The flags in popular use are based on the colours of the county
teams in Gaelic football and hurling - the most popular spectator
sports. As these flags are entirely unofficial, the designs vary: one
sees the colours arranged as horizontal stripes, quarters, lozenges,
etc., but vertical stripes are the most common. These flags have outgrown
their sporting origins and are now widely used on festive occasions, flown
alongside the European Union, national and provincial
flags at shopping centres, hotels, etc. However, in the six counties
that constitute Northern Ireland, use of the
county colours is confined to nationalist areas - the counties in Northern
Ireland have been abolished for administrative purposes and the sports from
which the county colours derive are not generally supported by unionists.